


Bloody Hero

by Lola99



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 14:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4838021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lola99/pseuds/Lola99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>FINALLY, a year later, I have completed this story for Norton7, who won my giveaway on tumblr.  She requested her Shepard, Anna, and Zaeed, settling into their happily-ever-after, after the events of ME3.  Of course, when Shepard is involved, that doesn't come without a few bumps along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloody Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nortonn7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nortonn7/gifts).



> Norton7: I'm so sorry this took so long, my dear. You are infinitely patient and kind and understanding of the curve balls that life threw at me this year. I really enjoyed getting to know your Shepard, and I hope I did her justice. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for being an amazing friend and person. ♥

* * *

Zaeed Massani watched carefully as the woman sitting across the kitchen table from him picked up the data pad in front of her.  She chewed on her lip as she stared at the screen, absently twirling the end of her red braid through her fingers as she did.  After several long seconds, she sighed and set the data pad back onto the table.  Zaeed held back the laugh he felt bubbling in his chest.  She’d been performing this same dance for the better part of the last hour and, while he was amused, he figured it was about time he said something.

“You sure you’re ready for this, sweetheart?”

Anna Shepard looked briefly at the datapad on the table before squaring her shoulders, nodding her head, and firmly saying, “Yes.”

Zaeed snorted.  “Then why do you look like you’re preparing yourself for battle?”

Letting out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding, Anna said, “Because old habits die hard?”

“That’s sort of my point.  You’ve been a soldier for so long.  Are you certain you’re ready to give that up?”

Anna smiled and waved the datapad at him.  “I’m ready.  I’ve _been_ ready for a while, and now is a good time.  There’s still a lot of rebuilding to be done, but the galaxy has stabilized quite a bit.  They don’t need me anymore.  It’s time to make my escape.”

Grinning, Zaeed leaned over and placed a quick kiss on her lips.  “Well, you know I won’t complain.  Just wanted to be sure you were sure.”

“Well now you’ve -”

The beeping of Anna’s omni-tool cut her off and she looked down to read the message from Admiral Hackett.

“That’s quite the frown, sweetheart.  What gives?”

Looking back up to Zaeed, she sighed.  “Hackett wants me in his office.  Apparently they need Commander Shepard for one more thing before they let me retire.”

* * *

When Anna came back to their apartment a few hours later, Zaeed could tell she was upset.  He frowned at her, but she didn’t seem eager to explain.

Finally, he just asked, “So what’d he want?”

She scowled in response.  “So you know how they are having a big ceremony next month, for the groundbreaking on New Aratoht?”  Zaeed nodded and Anna continued.  “Well, they’ve apparently decided that the Council giving the planet to the Hegemony, and making a big ceremony out of it, isn’t quite enough to sway the opinions of the general public-on either side.”

“What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“There are still a lot of hurt feelings, understandably, on both sides.  Because of their isolation from the galactic community, Batarians still don’t have the best reputation throughout the galaxy.  And obviously there are many Batarians who are upset about what happened with the Alpha Relay.”  Her eyes and voice dropped.  “What I did.”

Zaeed gently gripped her chin and tilted her face up, waiting until she met his eyes before saying firmly, “You did what you had to do, sweetheart.  You know that, I know that, most of the galaxy knows that.”  

He paused, waiting for her nod and for the haunted look to disappear from her eyes-it didn’t take quite as long these days, but he wasn’t sure she’d ever reach the point where it didn’t come at all.

“I’m still not sure what this has to do with your retiring.”

“Hackett wants me to meet publicly with members of the Batarian Hegemony, as part of the groundbreaking ceremony.  Both the Council and the Hegemony have agreed, and think it will be symbolic of the fact that humans and batarians can coexist peacefully.”

Zaeed snorted.  “What a load of crap.”

Grimacing, Anna nodded.  “Yeah.  But I get it.  The alliance between us and the Hegemony is still new and fragile.  Having a public showing of the Hegemony forgiving the person who took out the Bahak System will go a long way towards showing the Galaxy that it can work.  I’m just sick of being a symbol.  I’m ready to just be me.”

“You can say no.”

“No I can’t.  I’m not retired yet,” she reminded him.  “Besides, even if I could, you know that I wouldn’t.”

“That’s always been the difference between me and you, sweetheart.”

Anna grinned at him and the mood subtly shifted.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a brief kiss on his lips.

“Oh, I don’t know.  I can think of a few other differences.”

Zaeed raised a brow as he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, so their bodies were flush against each other.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What’re those?”

“Mmm, if you don’t remember, maybe I shouldn’t tell you.”

“Maybe I just need a reminder.”

Zaeed surprised her by picking her up, and she let out a startled squeak before wrapping her legs around his waist.

They both laughed all the way to the bedroom and her bad mood was quickly forgotten.

* * *

Zaeed woke a few hours later to a flashing light on his omni-tool.  He quickly scanned the message and, after making sure Anna was still sound asleep, quietly got out of bed and headed to the living room to call the sender back.  A few minutes later a familiar face popped up on his screen.

“Massani.”

“Vakarian.”

“Thanks for calling me back.  Are you alone?”

“For now.  What’s this about?”

“Some information has crossed my desk that I thought you’d want to know about.  I thought I’d tell you first and let you decide what to do with it.”

“Okay.  You have my attention.”

“Shepard’s going to be at the ceremony on New Aratoht, right?”

Zaeed narrowed his eyes.  “She just found out herself three hours ago.  How’d you know already?”

Garrus smirked at him.  “My new position has its perks.”

Since the end of the war, Garrus had become Primarch Victus’ right hand man.  Officially, he served as an advisor to the Primarch on inter-species relations.  His time with Shepard’s diverse crew, and assisting with setting up alliances throughout the galaxy, had made him an obvious choice.  

But of course, that was just his _official_ position.  Unofficially, he led a small group of highly skilled, and highly secret, security teams for the Primarch.  Shepard and Zaeed were two of only a handful of people who knew about their existence-besides Garrus’ team and the Primarch himself.

“Okay, so you know she will be.  What of it?”

“The Primarch will be attending as well, and a possible security threat has already come up.”

“I’m still not sure why you called me.”

“The threat isn’t against the Primarch.  It’s against Shepard.”

* * *

_Several weeks later_

“Okay, what do you think about this one?”

Zaeed looked over Anna’s shoulder at the terminal screen, his eyes scanning over the information and pictures that their real estate had sent over, and nodded.

“Yeah, I’d say that one could go our short list.  It’s a good location and has a lot of what we’re looking for.”

“But does it have enough?  I feel like that one in Donegal hit more of our check marks.”

“Fine then.  Leave it off.”

She considered for a second, tilting her head to the side.  “But it _is_ really cute.”

Zaeed sighed and threw his hands in the air.  “Then put it on.  I don’t bloody care!”

Anna looked up at him, the corner of her mouth twitching with amusement.  

“Do you need a break, Zaeed?”

The groundbreaking ceremony would be held tomorrow on New Aratoht, and by the end of the following week Commander Anna Shepard would be officially retired from the Alliance.  Their plan was to retire to a farm in Ireland.  Anna wanted the open space and solitude, and Zaeed was happy wherever she was.

They’d both been busy for the past few weeks and so their agent had gathered information on ten different properties that he’d thought would appeal to them.  Their job was to narrow it down to four that they wanted to see during the one day they’d have to go to Ireland in the next week.  The task had proven to be harder than it had sounded.

Their agent had chosen very well, and trying to cut six from the list wasn’t easy.  There were many things to like about all of the properties and, of course, none of them were completely perfect.  So far, they only had one property on their shortlist, and had spent the last several hours comparing and arguing over the other nine.

Zaeed rubbed his eyes and said, “I’d love a break sweetheart, but I’m not sure we have time for one.  Our flight leaves in five hours, and we’ve barely even started packing.  We have to pick three more properties and send them to Robert before we leave so that he can set up the appointments for when we get back.”  He sighed.  “We just need to buckle down and do it.”

Anna lifted her brow.  “Then no more snapping at me?”

Chuckling, Zaeed said, “No promises, sweetheart.”

As he was dodging a playfully thrown punch aimed at his arm, Zaeed’s omni-tool beeped to indicate an incoming call.  Looking down at the display he frowned.

“What’s up?”

“Sorry Anna.  I’ve got to take this.  How about you pick three to throw out, and I’ll pick the other three when I’m done?”

“Sure.”  She hesitated a second and then asked, “Everything okay?”

He looked down at the display again, a sinking feeling in his gut.  He leaned over and placed a quick kiss on her lips before saying, “I’ll let you know,” and walking out of the room.

* * *

Anna watched Zaeed leave, trying not to feel suspicious and utterly failing.  Zaeed hadn’t given her any reason to mistrust him but he had been acting rather strangely over the last few weeks.  He said he was working on a bounty but he wouldn’t tell her anything about it.  And she’d never seen him this tense about a job since Vido had been taken out once and for all.  She was worried about him, but if he wasn’t willing to talk to her about it she couldn’t make him.

She tried to focus on the real estate listings in front of her, but was soon distracted by shouting coming from the other room.

“What do you mean he got away?  How the did you let that happen?”

The other person’s words were muffled and she couldn’t quite make them out.  All she knew was that she’d never heard Zaeed sound so angry and she felt sorry for whoever was on the other end of that call.

“Fine.  I guess I have to take care of it myself….No.  I don’t need your help.  You’ve already proven that you’re bloody useless….Yes I’m sure and yes I know I need backup.  I’ve got a favor I can call in.  Just get all the information you can from his crew and _don’t fuck it up_.”

As she heard him end the call and start making his way back to the front room, Anna hastily went back to the listings and quickly chose three to remove from the list.  She had a feeling it didn’t really matter-the one property that they’d agreed on already had given her that feeling.  She was fairly certain it was going to be the one.

She didn’t look up as Zaeed sat down heavily in the chair across the table from her, waiting patiently for him to say whatever it is that he was obviously dreading.

“Something's come up.  I’m not going to be able to go with you to the ceremony.”

Looking up, she met his eyes.  “Anything you want to talk about?”

Zaeed remained silent for several long seconds before breaking eye contact.

“I can’t.”

“Okay.  I trust you.  And I trust that you wouldn’t be bowing out unless you absolutely had to.  Just....be careful?”

He snorted.  “When have I ever been careful, sweetheart?”

And that’s what she worried about.

* * *

Zaeed was pissed.  Working with Garrus’ information, he’d tracked down the man behind the threat on Anna’s life.  He didn’t have a name, but he’d managed to trace him back to hidden base in the Argos Rho cluster.  He’d called in a few favors and had one of the best freelance teams he knew go in after the guy.

And they’d fucked it up.  Tipped him off somehow and now he was gone, god only knew where.  To be honest, Zaeed was mostly angry with himself.  He should have known better than to send someone else in.  He should have gone himself, but he’d been too busy playing bloody house with Anna.  Not that he regretted spending the time with her, going over properties, trying to pick out a place for them both to retire to.  He just wished he hadn’t let it take over his common sense.  

Especially since it now meant that he wouldn’t be there for her at the ceremony.  Well, he’d be _there_ , just not at her side as he should have been.  And he had a lot of things to arrange between then and now, leaving very little time for the things _they_ needed to take care of.  

Sighing, he pushed himself up from the table and walked over to look at the property list over her shoulder again.  

After skimming through the remaining six properties, he pointed to three of them and said, “Take those three off.”  

He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head, breathing in her familiar, flowery scent as he did.  As frustrated as we was about this recent turn of events, he couldn’t lose sight of what he was protecting.  There wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do for Anna Shepard.  If it meant that she would be safe, he’d die for her in a heartbeat.

“Zaeed?”  

His face must have given away the directions of his thoughts because, when he looked down, Anna’s brilliant green eyes were filled with concern.

Forcing a smile onto his face, he said, “I’ve got to go pack.  You probably should too.  Feel like grabbing a bite to eat at the diner before we both head out?”

She continued to look at him with the same concerned expression for a few heartbeats before finally nodding.

“Sure.  Are you going to be leaving at the same time?”

“Yeah, I have a few contacts on the Citadel I need to speak with, so I’ll still be with you for the first half of the trip.”

“So you really don’t want to tell me what you’re up to?”

“I really don’t, sweetheart.”

“Okay.  Then I won’t bother trying to pry it out of you for the next several few hours.”

Zaeed grinned at that.  That’s what he loved about Anna.  She might give him those looks, and poke at him one or two times, but when it came right down to it, she trusted him.  And that thought caused his grin to falter.  Shouldn’t he return the favor?

No, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Anna.  Hell, he trusted her almost more than he trusted himself.  He just wanted her to get through the ceremony with as little stress as possible.  He’d call in his favors, take care of the threat, and she’d never even have to know about it.

* * *

“Massani.”

Zaeed nodded at the krogan in front of him.  “Wrex.  Thanks for getting here so fast.”

“You said someone was threatening Shepard?”

“Yeah.  My crew managed to raid the base but they let the ringleader escape.  From what intel Vakarian sent me, I don’t think this guy’s gonna stop just because he lost his second-rate mercs.”  He paused, briefly clenching his jaw before he continued. “He’s after Anna’s blood and I think he’s willing to take any risk to make sure he gets it.”

Wrex growled.  “Does this pyjak have a name?”

“Not yet.  But I have someone leaning on the mercs we caught at their base.  Someone’ll spill something sooner or later.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“I’d bet everything that he’ll be on New Aratoht.  So, first things first, we need to get there.”  He shrugged.  “We can figure the rest out on the way.”

Wrex narrowed his eyes for a second before grunting and motioning for Zaeed to follow him.

“Then what are we standing around here for?  Let’s go get this bastard.”

Zaeed simply nodded and followed Wrex.

Several hours later they were aboard a private transport that Wrex had... _borrowed_ , and were going over details about the ceremony that Garrus had sent over.  Since he was in charge of the Primarch’s security-unofficially, of course, but in charge nonetheless-he had access to far more details than the general public did.  And if they were going to keep Anna safe, they would need all the information they could get.

They had their heads together and were trying to figure out the best places to go after his guy.  Their decades-no _centuries_ -of combined bounty hunting experience gave them a unique perspective to where Anna would be most vulnerable.  Which was more than likely where they would find their guy.  Now they just needed to know who their guy was.  Zaeed hit button on his omni-tool and a face instantly popped up.

“Hey boss, I was just gonna call you.”

“Finnegan, you got something?”

“Yeah, I got a name for you.  Jacob Hymes.”

Wrex looked over at that.  “Hymes, did you say?  Why does that sound familiar?”

Zaeed glanced back at Finnegan.  “Who is he?”

“His mother was an engineer on Asteroid X57, killed when the batarians hijacked it and tried to crash it into Terra Nova.”

Wrex and Zaeed both cursed and shared a knowing look before Zaeed finally turned back to the screen.

“Okay.  We know his name and his motivation.  Anything else you can tell me about the guy?”

“I’m sending you a file now.  Not a lot of other info, but there is a picture in there.”

Zaeed nodded.  “Thanks, Finnegan.”

He disconnected the call and then pulled up the file he’d just received.  His eyes widened at the picture he brought up.

“Christ, he’s just a kid!”

“A kid who somehow got a bunch of mercs to follow him, and is motivated by an extremely personal vendetta.  We both know enough to recognize how dangerous he is.”

Zaeed shook his head to clear his thoughts.  Too much time with Anna was making him soft, and he saw a kid’s face instead of he man that was trying to kill the woman he loved.  But Wrex was right.  

He was extremely dangerous and they needed to stop him now.

* * *

Anna paced back and forth in Admiral Hackett’s office, looking down at her speech for the fiftieth time as if she hadn’t memorized it hours ago.  She was incredibly nervous and she wasn’t sure why-which, of course, only added to her unease.  The door hissed open behind her.

“Are you ready, Shepard?”

Turning, she tried to give the admiral her most confident smile.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

He chuckled, recognizing what she hadn’t said, and offered her his arm.  She slipped her hand around his elbow and together, they walked walked to the shuttle bay.  During the ride to the planet’s surface, Hackett went over the itinerary with her one more time.  Anna had already heard it several times, so she let her mind wander as he spoke.

Until they were exiting the shuttle and he said something that caught her attention.

“I thought you said that Massani couldn’t make it.”

“What are you talking about?  He couldn’t.”

“Huh.”  The admiral was looking towards a crowd on the far side of the shuttle platform, and she followed his eyes but didn’t see anything.  When she looked back at him he was shaking his head.  “I must have been mistaken.  Just someone that looked like him.”

Anna laughed.  “Or maybe you need to get your eyes checked, old man.”

Hackett turned his gaze back to her, putting on a stern expression that was softened by the twinkle in his eyes.

“That’s _Admiral_ Old Man to you, Commander.  You’re not retired yet.”

Laughing, she snapped off a quick salute and then the two of them made their way towards the stage that had been set up for the ceremony.  

Several politicians from around the galaxy were already on stage and talking amongst themselves.  She followed Hackett around, allowing him to introduce her to those that she didn’t already know-including the delegation from the Hegemony.  She hadn’t really known what to expect when meeting them.  For obvious reasons, the Alliance had kept her far from any missions even remotely involving the Batarians.  The peace between the races was fragile at best.

But she was pleasantly surprised when they greeted her with warmth.  It seemed that they genuinely wanted to lay the past to rest so that the galaxy could move forward with all the races united.  It was refreshing and encouraging.  No one was naive-it would certainly not be smooth sailing from here on out.  But it appeared that most people were willing to give it their best effort.  It certainly made her feel better about retiring.

Anna continued to mingle with the delegates for another half hour or so, until everything was set up and the ceremony was ready to begin.  First the council went up and made a speech about new beginnings in the wake of the reaper war, and then it was the Hegemony representative’s turn.  The plan was for him to make a short speech and then introduce Anna, who would join him onstage for a symbolic handshake before giving a speech of her own.  She got herself ready as he made his way to the microphone, but something glinting in the distance caught her eye.

She moved on pure instinct, jumping to her feet and rushing towards the representative to tackle him to the ground.  She heard the gunshot a split second before they hit the ground.    Two more gunshots rang out in quick succession before they stopped altogether.  Panic followed as the crowd scattered, screams and shouts coming from all around her.

* * *

“Goddam bloody hell!”

Zaeed pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the stage.  He’d had Hymes lined up in his sites and had hesitated for a fraction of a second when he’d seen the youth on the face staring back at him through the scope.  His hesitation cost him when the first shot rang out.  As the kid started to line up a seconds shot, Zaeed didn’t hesitate, putting a bullet right through his shoulder, causing Hymes’ second shot to go wide before he dropped his rifle.  Zaeed kept his eye on Hymes through the scope until he saw Wrex move in to take the kid into custody, and then he sprinted towards the stage, sending silent prayers to every deity he could think of as he did.

“Anna!”

He pushed through crowds of screaming and panicking people, searching for that familiar flash of red hair as he called her name over and over.

“Anna!”

“Zaeed?”

Relief flooded through him as he heard her voice and looked to his right, finding her staring at him with a look of confusion on her face.  Reaching over, he cupped the back of her head in his hand, staring down at her face for a second before pulling her face against his chest and hugging her tightly.

“Thank bloody hell you’re all right.”  

After briefly returning his embrace, Anna pulled back and looked up at him.

“What are you doing here?”

He never got a chance to respond as they suddenly found themselves surrounded by security personnel, all with their weapons trained on Zaeed.

“Step away from the commander and drop your weapon.”

* * *

Anna watched in shock and confusion as Zaeed slowly did what they asked and took a step away from her and carefully set his rifle onto the ground.  

Continuing to move slowly and deliberately, he then reached towards his front pocket and said, “I’m just going to get my security badge which is in this flat pocket here.  I’m here with the Primarch’s security team.”

“Garrus?”  Anna was even more confused.

Ignoring her, Zaeed spoke directly to security as he showed them his badge.  “You’re shooter has been taken into custody and is about 500 yards behind us.  I’d be careful, though.  He’s currently being held by an extremely irritated krogan clan leader.”

“Wrex is here too?  What the hell is going on, Zaeed?”

“Now’s not really the best time, sweetheart.  I’ll explain later.  And grovel appropriately, I promise.”

Anna narrowed her eyes at that last bit but didn’t say anything, instead quickly following behind Zaeed and the security team as they took off in the direction Zaeed had indicated the shooter was being held.  Anna was smart and her mind had been working out all the facts as they walked, so by the time the were approaching Wrex she had at least a general idea of what had happened.

There had been some sort of threat on her life and instead of coming to her with the information, Zaeed had taken it upon himself to play her protector.  With a little help from their friends, obviously.  She should have been mad at him but she was mostly relieved that his behavior lately wasn’t about anything more dangerous, and slightly amused that he still felt the need to protect her after knowing her for as long as he had.  But then she got a good look at the struggling gunman that Wrex had a hold of and her amusement quickly faded.

“Jesus, he’s just a kid!”

* * *

Zaeed heard Anna breath out the exclamation but didn’t get a chance to respond before Hymes looked up at her.  

You could feel the rage rolling off of him when he said, “ _You_!  You fucking traitor.  You should be dead.”

Stepping forward and grabbing the front of the kid’s shirt, Zaeed pulled him so they were face to face.  “Watch your mouth kid, or my next bullet will go somewhere a little more tender and probably a whole lot more important to you than your shoulder.”

“So you’re the one who shot me.  Thanks for that.  I had her perfectly lined up.”  He nodded his head towards Anna.  “Would have taken her out and done the galaxy a favor.”

Growling, Zaeed drew his hand back to take a swing at Hymes but Anna stopped him with a hand on his arm.  He reluctantly stepped back as she stepped forward and looked at Hymes with a concerned expression on her face.

“What’s your name?”

Hymes sneered back at her.  “What do you care?”

“I’ve obviously done something to hurt you deeply, enough that you want to kill me over it, and I want to know what that is.”

The kid drew himself up straight and met her eyes with a steely resolve as he answered, “My name won’t mean jack to you, but okay.  My name is Jacob Hymes and my mother-”

“Was killed on Asteroid X57.  I’m so sorry.”

Hymes’ surprise at her acknowledgement was visible only before a second before he once again hardened his expression.  

“You’re sorry.  My mother was murdered and you’re sorry?  She was murdered by the batarian slavers that _you_ let just walk away.  And now you’re playing nice with them, sweeping all their crimes under the rug.  So you’ll forgive me if your apology rings a little hollow.”

“I do.”

“What?”

“I do forgive you.  I know you don’t believe me, but I am truly sorry for what happened to your mother, and even more so that her killers walked away.  If there had been any other option that day, I would have taken it.  But I couldn’t let more innocent people die, more mothers and fathers and sons and daughters, just for the sake of revenge.”

Zaeed watched as Anna took another step towards Hymes and gently laid a hand on his uninjured shoulder.  He flinched but didn’t otherwise respond, so she continued.

“I didn’t know your mother, Jacob, so I don’t know the answer to this question-only you do.  But do you think your mother would have wanted that?  Would she have wanted her coworkers to die so that she could be avenged?  Would she want her son to throw his life away for it?  These people that are here today, the batarians, they were not the ones who killed your mother.  Most of them, if not all, are probably dead by now.  I killed a lot of them myself in an attempt to get to their ringleader.  And he...well, he died protecting Earth of all things.  I know it doesn’t excuse what he did, but he can’t pay any more than that.”

Hymes didn’t answer her, but the fact that his expression had lost it’s hard edge spoke volumes in Zaeed’s mind.  Anna always had been good at getting through to people.  He knew that the kid hadn’t magically changed his mind after her little speech, but she’d at least gotten him to think.  And she was probably the first person to do that for him in a long time.

“C’mon sweetheart.”  As the security team lead Hymes away, Zaeed grabbed Anna’s hand.  “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

* * *

Adrenaline rush had given way to extreme exhaustion, and Anna allowed Zaeed to lead her through the crowds back towards Hackett’s shuttle.  She just wanted to get off of this planet.  Anger and revenge.  Anna had been around the galaxy a few times, and seen a lot of horrible things, but she would never not be saddened by the kind of thing she had just witnessed.  A young life forever altered by a misplaced idea of ‘justice’.

After all, it had been Balak’s reasoning for what he had done as well.  He felt that his people had been wronged by the Alliance and was trying to exact some form of payback.  And then the cycle had continued when a little boy was left without a mother and stories of the scary ‘monsters’ who had killed her.  No matter how far the galaxy came, she knew there would always be things like that out there, but she just didn’t understand why.

Hackett greeted them outside his shuttle with a relieved expression and then ushered them inside.  “It’s damn good to see you, Commander.”  

As they all took their seats, Hackett turned towards Zaeed with a confused expression.  “Massani.  Not that it’s not good to see you, too, I’m fairly certain we didn’t bring you with us.  What the hell is going on?”

Anna turned towards Zaeed and said, “Yeah, I think you owe me that explanation now.  What _are_ you doing here?  And how are Garrus and Wrex involved?”

She ignored Hackett’s startled reaction at that bit and focused completely on Zaeed’s face.  He was clearly uncomfortable, and that was rare enough for him to make her immensely curious.

“I may have...miscalculated.”

“What does that mean?  Are you responsible for this?”

Holding up her hand to stop Hackett from reacting any further, Anna kept her eyes focused on Zaeed as she said, “I don’t think that’s what he means, Admiral.  Is it, Zaeed?”  He shook his head and she continued.  “I’m going to tell you what I think happened and you’re going to tell me if I’m right or if I’m right, ok?”  

Zaeed smirked slightly but nodded, so she kept going.

“Approximately three weeks ago Garrus contacted you and told you of a potential threat to my life.  I know it was three weeks ago because that’s when you started acting off.  And I know it was Garrus for two reasons.  One, you’re here under clearance from the Primarch’s security team.  Only he could pull that off.  And two, he’s the only one as stupid as you who would think going around me was a good idea.”

She held up her finger when Zaeed started to protest and leveled a challenging expression at him.  “Do you remember my apartment on the Citadel?  Because I do.  You two thought you needed to protect me and booby-trapped that thing to hell.  Frankly, it’s a good thing the Catalyst destroyed it because no one would have been able to get back in there without loss of life or limb.”

Anna felt the tension easing out of the shuttle as Hackett tried unsuccessfully to hold back an amused snort and Zaeed started squirming a bit in his chair.  This was actually a little fun.  

She grinned as she continued.  “So.  You thought you’d be able to have it all taken care of before the ceremony and I would have been none the wiser.  But something went wrong yesterday and that’s why you had to come here separately.  I’m not sure exactly how Wrex is involved, but I can only assume that you called him and told him I was in trouble and he came running.”

Zaeed nodded, having the good grace to at least look a little sheepish as he did.

“What I don’t quite understand, Zaeed, is why you didn’t just tell me.  Especially when things went south yesterday.  I mean, I took on the Reapers and Cerberus and everything else this galaxy has thrown at me.  You should probably realize by now that I am capable of taking care of myself.”

“I know you are, sweetheart.  Believe me, I do.”

“Then _why_ didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were already so worked up about this stupid publicity stunt of a ceremony, and your impending retirement.  I just thought I could I could make it so you had one less thing to worry about.  I mean, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do when I bloody love you?”

Anna couldn’t pretend to stay mad at him after that.  It’s not that she didn’t know he loved her, or that he’d never said it before even, but Zaeed Massani was not big on declarations like that, especially with an audience.  She leaned over and took his face in her hands.

“Fine.  I forgive you.  But next time?  Promise me that you won’t try to be the goddamned bloody hero, okay?”

* * *

Six months later, Anna and Zaeed had settled into a beautiful little farmhouse in the Irish countryside.  She’d completely retired from the Alliance and was indulging quite a bit in her amature hobby of photography.  Zaeed was still doing what Zaeed did, but he was mostly hands off these days.  He had a good group of men and women that he trusted and he mostly ran their missions from their home.  He’d also adopted a slightly more strict moral code on the bounties that they would take.

Their life was mostly quiet and they were surrounded by rolling green hills.  Anna was finally feeling at peace for the first time in a long, long time.  

Until one afternoon when she was sitting at her computer, editing photos and heard a strange noise coming from outside.  Moving towards the window that faced the path in the front of their house, she listened carefully.  There it was again.  It sounded almost like a high-pitched squeaking sound.  Only this time it was immediately followed by a round of cursing in Zaeed’s voice.  

“Goddamned bloody thing!  Stop biting me or I’m taking your right back where I found you!  No, don’t give me that look.  It doesn’t bloody work on me.”

Now incredibly curious, Anna made her way to the front door of their farmhouse and peered outside.  She was shocked to find Zaeed standing there with a big ball of golden fluff in his arms.  Then the fluffball made that same squeaking noise and turned its face towards her.

She looked at Zaeed in amazement.  “Is that a puppy?”

“Bloody thing wouldn’t stop following me while I was in town.  I asked around and got pointed to an elderly lady who begged me to keep it.  Apparently her dog had puppies and she’d managed to give away all of them except this little guy because he kept running away.  I remembered you saying you wouldn’t mind a dog running around out here, so…”

It hadn’t been exactly what she’d had in mind.  A puppy would bring chaos for a few years, until it became more mature.  Especially one that had as much spirit as this one appeared to have.  But then she considered the man that held the puppy in his arms.  The same man that held her heart so completely.  No, it hadn’t been what she’d had in mind.  But it was absolutely perfect.  

Anna smiled at Zaeed and pulled him close.  She placed a kiss on top of the puppy’s head and then on Zaeed’s lips.   

“I love it.  And I love you.”

 


End file.
